


scrapbook houses

by katabasics



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: 5+1 Things, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, and it works with the books!, because I'm lazy, except it's 3+1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:49:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24952588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katabasics/pseuds/katabasics
Summary: When Zuko hears home, he stops picturing a burning ship and a lonely palace.He sees a small apartment.He sees Uncle.or, three times Zuko makes a home away from home and one time he's welcomed back.
Relationships: Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Jin & Zuko (Avatar), Mai & Zuko (Avatar), Minor Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar) - Relationship, The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar), Ty Lee & Zuko (Avatar), Zuko & Zuko's Crew (Avatar)
Comments: 25
Kudos: 358





	scrapbook houses

i.

The  _ Wani _ is a life sentence. 

The ship is old and small and seconds from crumbling under Zuko’s anger. It creaks as he walks and groans as he sleeps and screams as he runs and  _ Agni, Uncle, how can he live like this _ —

His crew isn’t much better. They scoff at his orders. They belittle him at every chance. They laugh at him when they think he isn’t listening. He’s heard all their whispers about his fool’s errand. He’s heard all about the bets they’ve placed on when he’ll give up. 

Zuko knows no one expects him to succeed. He  _ knows _ this ship and this crew is supposed to be the rest of his life, but he won’t let it be. He is a  _ prince _ . He won’t be denied his ( _ home _ ) birthright and he will make ( _ his father _ ) the Fire Lord proud. 

He won’t make a home of the  _ Wani _ . He can’t. 

**###**

Uncle, the old geezer, finds it  _ incredibly _ easy to resign himself to a life on the sea, and Zuko can’t find it in himself to be surprised. The man who told Zuko to never give up without a fight now surrenders himself to fate with grace, and seems all the more content. 

( _ he’s a quitter and a loser, he hears azula say _ )

( _ azula always lies _ )

The crew loves Uncle. They get on like a house on fire. They act tamer around Zuko, too, so he  _ knows _ Uncle’s been talking. 

Three months into exile, Uncle and the crew take it upon themselves to revamp the ship. While Zuko refuses to waste their funds on  _ interior design _ of all things, he does agree that remodeling would be helpful in finding the Avatar. He can’t have the ship sinking before he finds him, now can he? 

Uncle smiles.

**###**

The crew paints their lives onto the little ship. 

Kyo adds a meditation rug to the flying bridge.

( _ kyo’s mother was one of those spiritual types, he mentions one night _ )

Genji installs a sugar cane press that takes up a quarter of the kitchen.

( _ his nephew had a terrible sweet tooth, dekku laughs _ )

Teruko covers the walls in underpriced art.

( _ her brother, she says, but doesn’t elaborate _ )

Zuko sees their stories as he walks down the ship halls. It’s suffocating, to know that they have plastered their homes onto the  _ Wani _ and made it a new one, while he can only see it as a prison. 

**###**

Uncle buys a pai sho table for everyone, and spends the rest of his part of the funds on fussing over Zuko. When he goes through Uncle’s room, he only finds a portrait of Lu Ten. Nothing else that would mark this as his room. 

Zuko doesn’t worry. He  _ doesn’t _ . 

**###**

The next time they dock, Zuko goes off on his own. 

Uncle finds a tea set decorated with lotuses the next morning.

**###**

The crew eventually convince him to spend a day at the marketplace. Zuko stares at theater scrolls when he thinks they aren’t looking. 

Satomi points out a blue theater mask and Zuko caves. He buys the scrolls and mask. He ends training early to sit on his bed and read. 

His ship is old. Its walls are thin. Everyone hears his rendition of “The Blue Spirit Soliloquy” from  _ Love Amongst the Dragons _ . He doesn’t care.

It’s the first time he’s smiled since he was banished. 

**###**

Until he looks at the calendar. It’s been two years since he was banished.

Zuko burns the scrolls.

( _ he keeps the mask _ )

He won’t make a home of the  _ Wani _ . He  _ can’t _ . That would be giving up. Zuko won’t give up without a fight. He won’t make that mistake again. 

**###**

The Avatar is alive. 

**###**

The  _ Wani _ burns.

( _ and Kyo’s rug and Genji’s sugar and Teruko’s art and Uncle’s table and that spirits-damned tea set _ )

( _ they all burn like Zuko’s theater scrolls _ )

( _ like Zuko’s face _ )

**###**

The crew dies. 

They die for their Fire Lord, with honor.

( _ like the forty first division _ )

( _ like Lu Ten _ )

**###**

Zuko is fine. He is floating on a raft with Uncle, and he is fine.

The  _ Wani _ was a prison. The crew, he was stuck with. There was no love between them. His home is across the ocean. His family is waiting for him to succeed and come back. 

Zuko has no love for the casualties. He has no reason to grieve. 

( _ but if he does mourn his ship and his crew on the little raft, that’s between him and the sea _ ) 

ii.

There is no war in Ba Sing Se. There is, however, Su-Wei, and Zuko’s not sure if that’s any better.

Su-Wei has been yelling at him about the matcha tea he served her for the past thirty minutes and he wants to die. Pao and Uncle won’t let him fight any of the customers after Jet ( _ how was he supposed to know that wasn’t allowed? _ ) but he is about two minutes away from snapping. The lady doesn’t understand that  _ he _ isn’t responsible for how small the cups are.  _ He doesn’t even make the tea.  _

Zuko already offered her a refill, full refund, and a free coupon but she still won’t shut up. He doesn’t even know what she  _ wants _ . 

And then she throws her tea in his face ( _ keep smiling, he reminds himself, if you want to keep this job _ ) and he realizes she just wanted an excuse to get mad. At that point, Uncle finally intervenes and walks her out of the shop.

Pao suddenly shows up and asks Zuko why he’s wet and it takes all the strength he has to not scream. Pao seems to realize this, and suggests he take the rest of the day off. He’s still a little scared of Zuko after seeing his skills as a swordsman. 

**###**

Zuko realizes he has nothing to do after he changes out of his work uniform. He doesn’t really have hobbies outside of war, he thinks. Maybe it’s time he changes that.

He did always like theater.

**###**

Zuko is, contrary to popular belief, not a complete idiot. He knows joining the Lower Ring’s theater group would draw unnecessary attention to Uncle and him. 

But, he also knows that if he doesn’t find something to do he’ll just don the Blue Spirit mask and go after some people, and Uncle doesn’t need that stress. 

( _ besides, no one pays attention to the people behind the stage _ ) 

**###**

Zuko  _ loves _ being a stagehand. He gets to work on sets and effects and can watch the play for free. He doesn’t exactly understand the others, but they seem to like him enough. 

He asks Pao if he can have shorter shifts once he and Uncle can afford it, and goes straight to the theater everyday after work. The play is one he hasn’t heard of before, but absolutely loves. It’s a comedy with the most over-the-top romance he’s ever seen. He has all the lines memorized within a week. 

He doesn’t watch the rehearsals often, and usually only hears the performance as he paints the backdrop, but he catches a glimpse of the lead girl out of the corner of his eye and feels like he recognizes her.

**###**

It’s only as he starts to walk back that he realizes that  _ Agni _ , it’s  _ Jin _ . 

**###**

Zuko spends the entire night awake, mentally practicing an apology. When he sees her the next day, she laughs and says she’d still love to be friends. 

( _ he never had friends of his own before. mai and ty lee were azula’s first _ )

Zuko smiles.

**###**

Uncle spends most of his time at the tea shop, even after his shift ends. He looks good there, Zuko thinks. He fits in in a way Zuko never could.

He usually gets back to the apartment before Uncle. It’s small and cramped and lonely in a way his ship wasn’t. In a way the theater isn’t. Zuko isn’t one to care about how lifeless the place is, but Uncle is. And he hasn’t said anything.

Peace is a good look on Uncle. But Uncle never looks peaceful in the apartment, where he can be alone with his thoughts and alone in the city. 

( _ you’re not alone. you have me, zuko wants to yell _ )

( _ he doesn’t say anything _ )

He knows that Uncle isn’t intentionally being distant. He knows how hard it is for him to stay in the city his son died, serving the people who cheered as he fell. He knows Uncle has nightmares like Zuko,  _ about _ Zuko falling with Lu Ten. 

He knows Uncle is hurting. He doesn’t know how to help.

He drinks his tea.

**###**

He and Jin start to walk back from the theater together. Now that they have the play, they actually have something to talk about.

Zuko doesn’t really understand most of her jokes, but he still has fun. 

( _ he  _ does _ , however, understand the way she looks at ananya, and he has a lot of fun with that piece of information _ )

**###**

Uncle’s home early. He invites Jin inside. 

Zuko’s never been more aware of how shabby their apartment looks. 

( _ he didn’t want to make a life here _ )

( _ he did always have the worst luck _ )

**###**

He makes Uncle take the day off to go to the market. If Uncle won’t breathe life into their home, Zuko will. He buys some prints to hang on their walls.

Uncle smiles.

**###**

When Zuko hears home, he stops picturing a burning ship and a lonely palace.

He sees a small apartment. 

( _ he sees uncle _ )

**###**

Uncle is getting his own teashop. 

**###**

The Avatar is in Ba Sing Se.

Zuko frees his bison. He’s moving on. 

( _then_ _azula shows up, and everything erupts in flames_ )

**###**

Zuko’s on a ship back to the Fire Nation —  _ home, it’s his home  _ — when he realizes he never got to see the play’s opening night.

( _ he never got to say goodbye _ )

( _ he never got to say sorry _ )

iii. 

Zuko doesn’t remember a lot from the first time he and Uncle broke into the Western Air Temple. Everything from those days blur into each other. He remembers pain, and he remembers anger.

( _ he remembers how many bodies there were, and how small they were _ )

Apparently, he also remembers his way around the place. 

The Avatar’s group gives him a surprising amount of freedom, considering the months of animosity built between them. They still don’t trust him, but they don’t keep a watch on him. He takes the time to refamiliarize himself with the place. They got off on the wrong foot.

**###**

The tea blends Uncle had left here the last time they searched the temple are still there. The others hadn’t discovered them yet.

Uncle said tea was the fastest way to someone’s heart. He  _ did _ owe them all an apology. 

**###**

He goes to Toph first. They have the least amount of history, and she seems to like him, despite him burning her feet. She said that carrying her around for those first few days was enough of an apology, but tea couldn’t hurt.

And then he sees the face she makes after one sip and thinks that  _ maybe _ it could hurt. 

Toph laughs and says tea making must not run in the family. He’s slightly offended. She reassures him that it’s still good, but she had higher expectations. He takes a sip and has to agree. 

**###**

Zuko spends the next few days analyzing each person’s tastes. Aang likes sweet, fruity flavors. Sokka likes the  _ tamest _ amount of spice in herbal blends as a kick. Toph already told him her favorite’s oolong. That had been a popular one back in Ba Sing Se, so he figures Haru and the Duke would like it too. Teo doesn’t seem to like many drinks, but will still finish them to be polite. 

He still can’t get a read on Katara. 

**###**

He makes Aang tea during their first firebending lesson after meeting the masters. He says learning to control the temperature of his flames to heat the water without burning the pot is important, but Aang definitely sees through that. 

Aang smiles as he drinks his tea and mentions how it’s similar to what the monks would prepare. 

( _ similar, but not the same _ )

( _ nothing’s the same as it used to be for the kid. he’s so strong, but he’s still a kid _ )

Zuko tells him it’s time for hot squats. Aang sighs. 

**###**

The first time he brews tea for the whole group, he brews oolong. He’s already figured out how to brew it exactly to Toph’s liking, and he’d rather work with a known than his guesses. He’s not the best when it comes to people. 

Sokka stops him before he can serve him. He asks about the Boiling Rock, and Zuko might not be the best when it comes to people, but even  _ he _ knows something is up. 

**###**

They break into the Boiling Rock. They rescue the Chief and the Kyoshi warrior, and leave Mai to her fate. They leave Ty Lee to her fate, too, because Zuko knows the way she looks at Mai means she’ll betray Azula. He knows Azula will either kill them or make them wish she had.

Mai and Ty Lee are as good as dead. He’s screaming on the inside.

Toph hears him. She tries to make him tea. 

It tastes terrible. He drinks it all.

**###**

He holds vigil through the night. Sokka sits with him, and doesn’t say anything. 

He knows it’s for Mai. He doesn’t know about Ty Lee. 

He’s there when Zuko breaks down. He holds him through the rest of the night.

**###**

Zuko is incredibly wary of Chief Hakoda. He doesn’t like leaving him alone with Sokka or Katara for too long. 

It’s Suki who notices it first.

Suki is one of the best warriors Zuko has met, and he knows a  _ lot _ of warriors. He doesn’t feel unsafe around her, but he is a little on edge knowing that she hasn’t completely forgiven him for burning down her village — which is perfectly understandable, of course. 

Suki corners him on their third day back from the Boiling Rock and asks about tea. She says she’s heard great things from Toph and Aang. Zuko pegs her as a jasmine kind of guy.

She watches him brew the tea without saying anything. They drink in silence until she brings up some offhand comments Azula had made in their time together. She looks at him without pity, but with understanding, when she says Hakoda is an honorable man in every way Ozai was not.

He asks her if she wants more tea. She says she’ll settle for a spar.

It’s a draw.

**###**

Sokka, Suki, and him start spending nights together around the fire after everyone has gone to sleep. Sokka spends most of the time catching Suki up on everything that’s happened since Ba Sing Se. Zuko listens without commenting until he mentions Master Piandao, and instantly starts asking fifty questions about how he is. The man had been Zuko’s Iroh before Iroh had become Uncle, and,  _ Agni _ , he missed him. 

Zuko starts recounting his time with him, and offhandedly mentions he was the Blue Spirit. Sokka looks like he’s having an aneurysm. 

Sokka immediately demands they spar, and Suki decides to call it a night. He and Sokka head out to the training area and fight. Zuko wins every time, but they’re both having fun. Sokka’s a natural, and he’ll probably be better than him in a year.

By the end of it, they’re both sore, and Zuko realizes he still has some chamomile left. He quickly grabs it and starts brewing, adding a little spice for flavor. 

Sokka tells him about the tea Gran Gran would make whenever he fell sick. Zuko tells him about how Uncle made him jasmine in his first days of exile, when the scar was still young. 

Sokka asks him about homesickness. Zuko doesn’t respond. 

**###**

Fleeing to Ember Island is a little hard for Zuko. He was starting to feel comfortable in the Western Air Temple. His friends are still with him though, and for now, that’s enough.

**###**

He brews Katara ginseng. She’s still angry, but she has some sort of closure. 

( _ zuko knows it isn’t enough _ )

( _ he knows she has every right to scream _ )

Katara drinks her tea. It isn’t enough, but it’s a start.

**###**

He doesn’t know when “the Avatar’s group” became “friends” and “friends” became “family.” All he knows is that he feels at home. 

i.

The palace doesn’t feel like home. Home is with a shipwreck at the bottom of the sea. Home is with Uncle in the heart of the Earth Kingdom. Home is with the rest of his friends, all back to  _ their _ homes, working on ending the wars beyond the battlefields. 

Home is not the palace that scarred Zuko, that broke Azula. 

The walls of the palace remind him of Ozai. He steps into the throne room and sees himself kneeling before it. He steps into the duel grounds and sees himself kneeling. He steps into every room and sees himself  _ kneeling _ . 

And then he steps into the meeting room and sees the one place he didn’t kneel. The one time he stood up, and the day he was branded as  _ weak _ . 

( _ but you weren’t weak, he hears his friends, his uncle say _ )

( _ you were just a kid _ )

( _ it doesn’t matter what they say. they’re not here. he’s alone with his thoughts _ )

**###**

Suki and Ty Lee come back after his first assasination attempt. It was a guard. He can’t trust any of them, but he can trust Suki and Ty Lee.

With Ty Lee comes Mai, who was forced back into the picture of a quiet, docile girl. It takes weeks for her to be herself again. 

Suki manages to bring back Toph, who had been trying to leave ever since she was dragged back to Gaoling. Zuko’s requests aren’t as respected in the Earth Kingdom, but Suki’s are. He sees her and Mai talking about parents, and knows they’ll be friends within an hour. 

Suki’s the one who brings up the idea of redecorating. It’ll do him and the servants a favor.

**###**

Zuko burns the throne down.

He gets a smaller, simpler throne, one that doesn’t make him feel like throwing up everytime he sits down. The servants seem more comfortable around it, too.

**###**

There’s tapestries and statues of Ozai all over the Caldera. Toph handles the statues. Mai takes down the posters. 

He pretends to not notice the statues Toph makes of herself, but it’s incredibly hard to ignore a fifteen foot tall Toph Beifong in the middle of the palace. Incredibly hard, but not impossible. She gets a kick out of it anytime he politely asks what a noble is talking about whenever they issue a complaint. 

**###**

He paints the palace walls the colors of the nations. There’s a wing for the Earth Kingdom ambassadors, and another for the Water Tribe.

There’s a separate wing for his friends. Suki, whose interior design skills remain unmatched, decorates hers with paintings of Kyoshi Island, and portraits of her friends. Toph makes statue after statue in hers. She also grows some cacti, and tells Zuko the juice tastes pretty good. He doesn’t talk about it, and swears Toph to secrecy. Mai and Ty Lee share a room, filled with soft silks and daggers. 

The wing has three unused rooms. Two of them distinctly Water Tribe, and one distinctly air. It would be four, but Zuko still hasn’t found the chance to reconnect with Jin. 

He didn’t think he’d miss them so much.

**###**

Uncle visits twice a month. His room always smells like him — ginseng tea and proverbs. He shuts himself in there anytime he needs to think. Suki and Ty Lee don’t mention it. 

It hurts, not having him here. Zuko knows Ba Sing Se is what Uncle wants, but it  _ hurts _ . He thought he would be enough. 

It isn’t home without Uncle.

**###**

Sokka becomes a Water Tribe ambassador, and Zuko might cry. Suki feels the same way, and they both catch him in a hug the second his ship docks. Toph punches him and asks what took him so long. Sokka grins.

He brings with him Water Tribe stories and furs. Zuko hears their tales in whispers across the caldera. He sees their furs adorn the people’s robes in winter. Sokka’s a people person in every way Zuko isn’t. He’s amazed to see how quickly he introduces their culture to the Fire Nation.

He’s not surprised to see him and Ty Lee strike up a friendship, but immediately regrets it once he becomes a victim of their prank wars. Toph’s on his side, though, so he manages to strike back. Mai and Suki claim to be neutral, but he knows they’re secretly helping the two. 

He, Sokka, and Suki sit together in the kitchens at night, like they did around the campfire. It isn’t until he hears the chef scream when she sees them that he thinks about why this could be a bad idea. It would have been funny, if the chef hadn’t immediately bowed and begged for forgiveness. 

Zuko can redecorate all he wants, but his people will still be afraid of him. He doesn’t want them to forget their scars, but he doesn’t want them to fear him.

**###**

Aang and Katara help. When they finally visit they catch him in the middle of a breakdown, and he’s forced to admit that Ozai still has his people caught in fear. 

Aang suggests a dance, and hearing an incredibly winded story about the time Aang taught some kids how to dance that he’ll process later, Zuko agrees. He holds a festival on the anniversary of Ozai’s defeat.

It’s only as the festival starts he realizes that he doesn’t know how to dance. 

Katara manages to drag him into the dance circle, and he’s able to follow her moves for about ten seconds before he escapes. Aang drags him back, and they do the dancing dragon. It’s still a rare enough move that people’ll think he’s dancing and not cheating, Aang explains. 

He’s right. The dancing dragon becomes the first dance trend in the Fire Nation in over a century.

**###**

Aang becomes a living archive on the Air Nomads. He teaches the people about their culture, and Zuko sees the weight on his shoulders. He knows Aang is mourning, and will be mourning for the rest of his life. 

He makes Aang tea. He found an Air Nomad recipe, and it’s not exact, but Aang smiles.

**###**

Zuko takes Azula home. He’d gone to see her in the hospital every week, and he knows she’s ready. 

Ozai hasn’t completely lost his hold on her. Ozai still has a hold on Zuko, too. But they’re moving on. It’s hard, but they’re trying.

**###**

Toph’s the first person to accept Azula, and Zuko immediately knows this will come back to get him. It does in about a week, when Toph betrays Zuko in the prank war and allies with Azula. He gets Suki on his side, though, so he isn’t that bad off.

That is, until he realizes Suki’s been a double agent the whole time.

Zuko’s about to scream until he sees Azula smile —  _ really _ smile. He almost cries.

**###**

Azula has a hard time with Uncle, and he gets it. Uncle abandoned her. He saved Zuko and left her alone with Ozai. 

Uncle makes her tea. She says even Zuko’s tastes better, and Uncle looks as though she just murdered his family and laughed at their graves. 

It takes time for her to come around. She can’t forgive him. But she can understand.

**###**

Azula brings back the shimmering blues in the palace. Her flames light up the rooms, and they’re a thing of beauty when not used for war.

It’s hard, making a home of the place that destroyed them. But it’s not impossible. 


End file.
